“It could be that her Amoro has met its Mark.”
Bile rises in my throat, but I don’t let it show. I’ve never spoken about why I was pregnant, and even if she tried to coerce me, my Amoro has given me all the strength I need to protect the one thing I can right now—Kairhyse.
The moment her fist isn’t inside me, gentle hands grab my shoulders and begin lifting me to a seated position. It’s the damn Mundane, Jay. I can’t begin to describe my hatred for them all, but he is at the top for sure.
He is sympathetic and tender, just the way Dominic acted, until he showed the true monster he was. Jay has not cracked from that façade, even as he assisted in raping me. He just wants to cosset me and clean me up after everything. It’s got to be some sick fantasy of his. The comment about how he was upset he couldn’t sew me back up after what Lars did to me, solidified that strange need of his.
Sicko… All of them…
When he draws his hand across my wet cheek, I weakly raise my arm and slap him across the face. “Don’t touch me…” I release a heavy breath and slump over, bumping into Archer’s leg, I think.
“She’s not claimed, I’d know,” my mother says with impatiencelayered over every word. “Whore probably fucked so much trying to get herrevengethat she came across one of our own and they latched.”
Jay is coming to my side again, and I groan. Theonlyperson I ever want caring for me is Kairhyse.
These stupidfuckingMundane emotions. I miss him. I miss him so fucking much.Godsdamn it!
Clenching my jaw and squeezing my eyes shut, I fight the wave of dread threatening to spill from me in the form of tears.
“Could have been the boyfriend,” Archer says, just as the leg I was keeping propped up on moves and I fall down to my elbow, which shakily keeps me from landing on my face.
“He’s dead,” Tali says nonchalantly.
My bottom lip is between my teeth and I bite so hard I pierce right through the flesh. The strength I had in my arm slightly gives, and I begin crawling toward the wall closest to me.
She’s wrong. He isn’t dead.
“If we had the body, her Amoro could?—”
He isn’t dead. I just cannot hear this. Think of anything else, Xeraphine. Think of anything but the fact you could have got him killed.
“Both their bodies burned in the?—”
I choke on the breath I try to take, cutting him off. My hand shoots to my mouth.Shut up, please, just shut up.Inch by inch, I get closer to the wall, my body desperate for relief from their voices and the downward spiral my psyche is pulling me into.
My mind can’t shatter. It’s the only piece of me that is keeping this fight going.
“Hmm…” Footsteps echo behind Tali’s hum.
As she approaches, my scoot away gets faster, and I’ve never felt smaller. It isn’t her standing over me that makes me feel that way, it’s the lack of control that tears me down to feeling like a mere mouse. I’m trying so fucking hard to stay strong, because I know that I can be.
I’ve stopped thinking Kai and Sydni are dead, and it’s helped keep me going. I know they aren’t gone; my heart tells me so.
Seeing her crouching next to me, I turn my head away and reclose my eyes. “He was your Mark.”
“No.” My singular word is bubbled with emotions that are all too telling that I’m lying.
“Aww, Xeraphine.” Her weak attempt at sympathy pisses me off, and I lash out, aiming the back of my hand at her face. As expected, she catches it just before impact. Clicking her tongue, she pulls my hand to her lips and presses a kiss to it.
“Oh, sweetheart, he’s gone.”
Rolling my lips together, I shrug my shoulders. “Okay.” I need to keep my body and mind together. Stay steadfast that I knowmyKairhyse isn’t dead, nor is Sydni. He would do everything to keep her safe. I trust him…
“Would shoving his ashes down your throat be proof enough?”
He finds fulfilment in completing even the simplest of tasks because he said it was always challenging to do so when he was Mundane. Now, because he has more time, he’s found patience and doesn’t rush.
“Maybe the hand that was marked by Achille?—”
